Presales for the highly anticipated China's war epic The Battle at Lake Changjin II, reached 220 million yuan ($35 million) on Monday morning, and are expected to lead the Chinese New Year box office, as the overall presale box-office sale leads of all Chinese New Year films, having surpassed 500 million yuan as of Monday.

The Battle at Lake Changjin II, the sequel to China's top-grossing film of all time, The Battle at Lake Changjin, is widely expected to crown the 2022 Chinese New Year film schedule box-office.

Presales for its screening day Tuesday have already reached 220.45 million yuan, according to statistics from Chinese online ticket platform Dengta.

The film is set during the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea (1950-53) and it depicts the Chinese People's Volunteers soldiers' brave fight in a key campaign at Lake Changjin, or Chosin Reservoir, in freezing temperatures.

Presales of The Battle at Lake Changjin II tripled presales numbers of Only Fools Rush In, which grossed 75.77 million yuan as of Monday and came in second among the eight films vying for moviegoers' attention during the weeklong holiday, the most important film season of the year.

The Battle at Lake Changjin was the highest-grossing film in Chinese history with a box-office total of 5.77 billion yuan.

Despite recent COVID-19 flare-ups in some regions and cities, industry insiders say that China's cinema market stands a fair chance of setting a new record for the weeklong Spring Festival holiday peak season that starts on January 31.

Multiple research institutes have issued forecasts for the Chinese New Year box-office. For instance, industry data analytics firm topcdb.com gave a projected 8.04 billion yuan, while brokerage firm Guotai Junan Securities gave a forecast of 8.5 billion yuan.

Global Times